Dennis Allen: Chris Kluwe knows he has to focus on football

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 3, 2013, 3:06 PM EST

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When Chris Kluwe was the punter for the Vikings, there were rumblings of discontent within the coaching staff about his political interests perhaps distracting from his job. But now that Kluwe is a Raider, his coach says that’s not an issue.

Raiders coach Dennis Allen said at his press conference today that the Raiders’ coaching staff wants Kluwe to put all his focus on playing football, and that Kluwe has bought into that.

“Chris Kluwe, his job is to make this football team,” Allen said. “He’s of the same mindset.”

For his part, Kluwe wrote on Twitter last week that he had turned down an invitation to the White House because it conflicted with the Raiders’ minicamp.

“Lest anyone EVER question my commitment to a team that employs me, I present exhibit A,” Kluwe wrote, linking to his invitation to the White House. “And no, I did not ask if I could skip practice. Mandatory minicamps are mandatory, and I’m here to help the team win. So it goes.”

When it comes to putting his focus on football, Kluwe’s actions have matched his coach’s words.

45 responses to “Dennis Allen: Chris Kluwe knows he has to focus on football”

Too bad his actions didn’t match his words when he was a Viking. Oh ~ by the way, I don’t think his political views were the only past distration. I think he had a number of distractions (i.e., Ray Guy – Hall of Fame) that brought down his productivity.

Then he was lying before because he said he didn’t have to focus only on playing football. He has a ton of interests outside of football and now we’re supposed to believe he’s only focusing on playing football? Ridiculous.

I never thought his focus was an issue. He was a good punter and his performance actually stayed very stable over his career (except for a bit of a rocky start last season), but the younger, cheaper punters got better. So, he just wasn’t worth the money. Just business.

raiderinva says:
Jun 3, 2013 3:15 PM
I am sure that this is all the fault of Mark Davis because he fired PR chief Zak Gilberts.

Damn you Mark…..
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This theory has legs, just ask anyone who covers the Raiders – it’s all connected. It’s like Game of Thrones, just with less dragons.
Amy Trask “resigned” – Reggie forced her out.
Team P.R. guy fired? Weak Mark’s attempt at a comeback.
Tim Kluwe’s reply to the White House, posted online for all to read at their own risk? Coerced response at sword point from Heart-of-Darkness-level Insane DA.
Charles Woodson’s all black jersey at practice? Total team dischord and a cry for help.
A cry to whom you might ask?
To the media, obviously. Our ever present guardians, the sports writers.

Then he was lying before because he said he didn’t have to focus only on playing football. He has a ton of interests outside of football and now we’re supposed to believe he’s only focusing on playing football? Ridiculous.

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I think he is smart enough to balance his “focus” on football and his “focus” on outside interests, such that they don’t impact his performance. I think a lack of focus had zero to do with why he’s gone. It’s just that there are cheaper, better, younger, stronger options out there.

He’s only “focused on football” now because he lost his previous job and is on the bubble for getting cut with the Raiders.

Does anyone in the world doubt that if he were still on the Vikings he would have taken a few days off and gone to Washington? All while spewing a bunch of hate-filled nonsense about supposed oppression?

So not only did he tout around his White House invitation to further his ‘current’ agenda of making the (new) team but he’s actually now just simply lying. I’m glad The Purple got rid of this attention-starved ‘intellectual’.

Never liked him on the 93X morning show, never liked him as a punter, never liked him as a band promoter (his own…sigh). Good riddance and let this be the last we ever hear of him.

Also, Kluwe: Go the the White House, you moron. Your career is obviously not within the NFL for much longer so maybe you should be focusing on the things in your life that you’ve actually made headway in.

If you took the years off Kluwe’s annual stats and then mixed them up you’d be hard pressed to ID 2012 – meaning that stat-wise, he’s still a competent punter. So why is he radioactive? Money or controversy? I bet Kluwe in 2012 is better than the Vikings 2013 punter.

Sure do wish folks would stop trying to find disfunction in our program.. Trask implied she has intended to leave the team as she stated that she fulfilled a promise she made to over see a smooth transition.. Nothing major going on there…

As for the pr dude, your one job is to make your boss look good, if you fail at that then boom, replaced…

Let’s see, an injury ended Gannon’s career. Tim Brown started his career in Oakland, ended it in Tampa Bay. Jerry ended his career in Seattle. Seymour is most likely still going to be playing for a few years provided he can stay healthy with another team. Woodson is playing for peanuts on a 1 year deal and he’s still productive.
You might want to rethink your list.

Kluwe is in favor of treating every human equally. If he got fired for that stance, he should wear it as a badge of honor. Also, if that’s true (which is the implication of this article), it means the Vikings are a low-life, low-class organization who support bigotry.

As for the Tebow comparisons … Ray Lewis is also an outspoken Christian, and no one is saying that Ray got chased out of football for his religion.

Tebow isn’t unemployed because of his religion. He’s unemployed because he’s not a good pocket passer and he draws a giant media circus where ever he goes.

Sad thing is, that if he were sincere he wouldn’t have wasted his time trying to get in the spotlight by telling everyone on twitter about turning down the invite. He would have just gone about his business and showed up ready to compete!

He kind of talked a big game as he was leaving the Vikings about how he would stay vocal in what he believes in. But I’m thinking that he had a little wake up call there and now understands the place of a punter on an NFL team. Hint: it ain’t spokesperson.

Kluwe should recognize that there are some issues you need to stay the hell away from if you don’t want to be viewed as controversial and/or a distraction and the gay marriage issue is one of them….not saying it’s right, but it’s the truth.

Only way it could be worse is if he started acting anything like Tebow or Taylor Swift. No one gets it worse than them two.